I served my seminary internship in a small rural parish. I was mentored by two pastors. One served one of the largest churches in our denomination, having grown it from 35 members to over 1500. The other served a small rural two point parish, his two congregations sitting just to the east and just to the west of the small country church where I ministered for a year. He was more prone to preserve the envelope than to push it. He suffered from a couple of vocal members who thought he had been there long enough. They often attempted to garner my support for their insurrection.
At the time, I was swayed by the complaints of the disgruntled members of the neighboring parish, though I had enough wherewithal to refrain from supporting them out of loyalty to my fellow pastor. In fact, I thought my neighboring pastor rather lazy and behind the times. At the same time, I was in awe of the other pastor's methodologies and straightforward in your face manner. When I brought a situation I was facing to them, their reactions were totally different. The one was very sympathetic, saying "It's too bad some people treat pastors that way." The other was pro-active, saying "I faced that situation in a previous congregation and here is what I did to solve it."
Now, many years later, while I still admire the large church pastor, I have come to see that much of his success was due to traits I have failed to emulate. He has advanced leadership skills built on an innate ability to accumulate and spend political capital. I'm more of an analyst usually connecting the dots after the moment of opportunity has passed. So, I don't waste my time trying to emulate him anymore. I'm not like him and never will be.
On the other hand, the country pastor is still faithfully serving his two point parish. He has grown immeasurably in my estimation. He has found a niche where his unique skillset and personality have allowed him to build relationships. His perseverence in the face of opposition has not come from defeating his enemies, but loving them. His even handed stability has done much to build the kingdom of God in his neck of the woods. While he doesn't have the kind of leadership skills that will gather a large following or rally people to a new vision, he has faithfully preached the Word, counselled his people and served as shepherd to his flock for nearly 25 years. While he will never pastor a large big city church, start a national ministry or broadcast his messages into five states like my other mentor, I find myself emulating him more and more as the years go by.
